We won't play the Rangers. The Flyers are probably going to miss the playoffs at this point.

I think the most likely opponent is the Senators or the Habs at this point (with us winning the division in the 3rd seed or losing it and getting the 4th).

This team has suddenly locked down defensively, they just need to re-jigger the offense a bit and get that going.

I like us in the 1st round. Again, just win every other game.

Beyond that, we'll see.

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain.

We all have our doubts, but I think harping on every loss and saying that this team sucks is just getting to be a bit much when you are fighting for 1st in the division.

As fans of this team we are spoiled, and truthfully, there really shouldn't be any shame in that. I mean how could you not be? It might seem more distant nowadays but not so long ago this franchise managed to win the Stanley Cup three times in nine seasons and played for the Cup 3 out of 4 seasons. That is a great amount of success in a short time. And they were a solid team the years in between when they didn't win.

I'll only speak for myself but the way this season has unfolded has left me real bitter with this team and it's weird for me to feel that way. I mean I can honestly say I wasn't even as upset with the way the last few playoffs have ended as I am now. If you look at things realistically you'll understand that you can't compete for the Cup every year. It's just not possible. That is why things like regular season success and winning the Division mean something to me. I think it's nice to know that even during the years when you don't have as good a shot, that you can at least enjoy something and still support a team that wins more often then it does not. I appreciate that.

I look at this team and I see a bunch of players that I have grew up with and they are running out of time. Brodeur will be 38 come May. Elias is entering the last phase of his career. I really want to see these guys have at least one last ride and enjoy playoff success before they're gone for good. I'm grateful for every great moment this team has provided but it has been a decent amount of time since they were a true player in the postseason. This is their best chance in a long while and I watch these games and get frustrated knowing that they might not find a way to seize the opportunity. Sure they're not perfect, but there is enough talent and good players on this team that they should be able to best their opponents on most nights. I refuse to believe that this team is not better then what they have shown. So why have they been so average for almost half the season now? It's clear a lot of people are just frustrated with this group and imo there is good reason for it.

" 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1!! And the oldest trophy competed for in North America, LORD STANLEY'S CUP, has made it's way through the Lincoln Tunnel! To the Meadowlands! To the Garden State! THE NEW JERSEY DEVILS ARE THE 1995 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!" Mike Miller, June 24th, 1995

" I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup which should be held from year to year by the champion hockey team in the dominion" Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston

I do agree with that point, Sickman. I think fans see a certain window closing. The end of an era in a way. When Marty goes, that 1995 team is gone to history completely (though we'll still have winky). When Elias goes, it's Colin White and Jay Pandolfo that remain from 2000, 2001. And there won't be many left from 2003, then, either.

Some fans are whiny bitches, but others are feeling the desperation that comes with a closing window.

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain.

You're confusing the sh!t out of me right now. You say that we're playing like crap and there's no reason for optimism. Then you proceed to say that the chances of us finishing in 2nd are high.

What's happening here, buddy?

As we all know, where you finish the regular season doesn't mean diddly, especially when you're playing like ass the entire second half of the season. True, Pittsburgh also can't get out of it's own way right now. The difference is, as said in my other posts, that Pittsburgh has shown in the past two years that with the team more or less as currently constituted (I recognize I got some disagreements on this), can win in the playoffs. The Devils have shown the exact opposite, and the facts say there is no reason to think this year will be any different. Two possible first round match-ups, Rangers, who have historically owned us in the playoffs with a goalie that dominates us, or the Flyers, trounced us with some of their best players injured.

Dan, will you just take it easy?

I'm perfectly calm.

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I collect spores, molds and fungus.Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do.How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk? And what makes it so risky?

As we all know, where you finish the regular season doesn't mean diddly, especially when you're playing like ass the entire second half of the season. True, Pittsburgh also can't get out of it's own way right now. The difference is, as said in my other posts, that Pittsburgh has shown in the past two years that with the team more or less as currently constituted (I recognize I got some disagreements on this), can win in the playoffs. The Devils have shown the exact opposite, and the facts say there is no reason to think this year will be any different. Two possible first round match-ups, Rangers, who have historically owned us in the playoffs with a goalie that dominates us, or the Flyers, trounced us with some of their best players injured.

Just sayin.

And every year is different. Those last few minutes of Game 7 don't happen, we're in the 2nd round.

And every year is different. Those last few minutes of Game 7 don't happen, we're in the 2nd round.

But they did happen. Good teams don't blow it like that.

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I collect spores, molds and fungus.Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do.How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk? And what makes it so risky?

Yes, they did. Last year. Maybe this year they don't happen. And contrary to your beliefs, I think this team is good. MORE than good. They're not perfect, but I'm okay with that. They can frustrate the hell out of me, but at the end of the day, I can't think of another team I would rather root for. So until this team is actually out of the playoffs, I'm going to keep the faith. I don't care that if they get knocked out I can't say 'I told you so' to all those idiots who believed that their team could win. I think when this team has their sh!t together, they are unbeatable. And I have no reason to believe that their sh!t can't be...put together come playoff time.

of course they don't. it's why the rangers could never win the stanley cup in 94 - how could they let the devils tie it with less than 10 seconds left? good teams don't do that.

my point is that of course good teams don't lose late in game 7, because we can't ever know whether or not they are a good team. the hindsight exhibited in this thread is frankly, ridiculous.

What in god's holy name are you blabbering about?

I'm talking about the first round of the playoffs that, if you're a good team, which everyone here still seems to believe, you don't give up two goals in the last minute 30 of game 7 and lose. The Rangers/Devils was game 7 of the CONFERENCE FINALS. And the Rangers ended up winning. Had the Devils held on and won Game 7 against Car. in overtime, then of course the whole thing would have been moot. But they blew it. Department of bad analogies.

If you can take consolation in your belief that the Devils gave it the old college try, then bully for you. My view is that a team that fancies itself as this well-oiled machine ought to put up or shut up.

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I collect spores, molds and fungus.Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do.How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk? And what makes it so risky?

I'm talking about the first round of the playoffs that, if you're a good team, which everyone here still seems to believe, you don't give up two goals in the last minute 30 of game 7 and lose. The Rangers/Devils was game 7 of the CONFERENCE FINALS. And the Rangers ended up winning. Had the Devils held on and won Game 7 against Car. in overtime, then of course the whole thing would have been moot. But they blew it. Department of bad analogies.

If you can take consolation in your belief that the Devils gave it the old college try, then bully for you. My view is that a team that fancies itself as this well-oiled machine ought to put up or shut up.

while lebowski references are always appreciated (and that's #2 ITT) - the point of my sophistry was to conclude that no one would ever say that a good team blows it in a game 7 because that team never gets a chance to play again. e.g. detroit in 1994, clearly one of the best teams in the league, with a +81 goal differential, loses in 7 in the first round. was that not a 'good team'? basically the same team went to the cup finals the next year.

the devils weren't that good - i'm not comparing them to the 94 wings. carolina was basically a coin flip with them. the devils lost. it's not of exceptional meaning. the fact that the devils lost basically 2 coin flips in a row doesn't lead me to conclude that a future 3rd one will be lost. the players' memories are far more steeled than the fans'. the devils will be a favorite against any team they play.

I don't entirely agree with Daniel. As much as I am critical of the team, the last thing I want to think is that they're not going anywhere.

The blindness of this board, however, is something that goes beyond reason.

This team IS much better than the 2008 team...on paper. 2008 team finished the season with 46 wins, this team has 44, and at the rate they're going, 46 wins seems a fitting ending. What almost everyone here seems to look over are the ACTUAL results. Forget the roster, forget a much better Zajac, Clarkie, forget Kovie, all that matter is wins and points. This team SHOULD be much better than the one in '08, but it's not, and that's where the frustration comes from.

How about you stop being so mediocre to compare to the chokes and sad stories of this league, and compare yourself to the best. Yeah, it is great the Devs are not the Rags, or Edmonton, or Dallas, or San Jose, etc., etc., etc. But that doesn't make their failures right. How about, why can't we have as much success as Detroit for example. Same goes for the comparison to the earlier Devils teams. I guess Panthers fans have no right to complain or feel hurt because they are always out of the playoffs.

Marty has been playing great lately, but it doesn't mean $hit when this awesome-in-paper team can't score a goal for their lives. Get it in your heads already: names don't win!

cuban: you don't understand how past results and future results jibe. if you had been on the board in 1995 or 2000, you would have been saying the same exact things.

Tri, board or no board, I also said it last year and the year before. Like I said, I don't get into the future, I don't get into how we'll do in the playoffs, I talk about the present, game by game, and it stinks. What pisses me is when people take a conformist and overly optimistic attitude and carry around a bag of excuses.

I agree we have one of the best pair of scoring lines in the league on paper, but I'm not seeing goals.

You know guys, the Devils team in 2003 finished the season with 46 wins! If this team finishes with 46 wins it means we are going to WIN THE CUP! And the 2000 Devils finished with 45 wins! So if we only get 45 we're going to win the cup, too!

If we lose, I'll be crushed. Daniel will enjoy saying I told you so. Go to a fvcking Rags board you tool.

If you went to a Rangers board, and they were all talking about how they were going to make it to the conference finals or whatever, you would have a good hearty gut laugh. Yeah, we're in the playoffs, but have been forced to bank on a huge winning streak back in the first couple months of the season. The same blind optimism here would be just as ridiculous.

And I find it kind of bizarre that you think I'll be happy when the team loses when I'm voicing obvious, and well deserved frustration. Maybe you're a happy just to be there kind of fan. I'm not.

Edited by Daniel, 03 April 2010 - 03:54 PM.

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I collect spores, molds and fungus.Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do.How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk? And what makes it so risky?

You know guys, the Devils team in 2003 finished the season with 46 wins! If this team finishes with 46 wins it means we are going to WIN THE CUP! And the 2000 Devils finished with 45 wins! So if we only get 45 we're going to win the cup, too!

Another bad comparison since there were no shootouts in the 2003 season.

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I collect spores, molds and fungus.Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do.How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk? And what makes it so risky?